How Long Until the Next Zettabyte?

Last year saw an important milestone in the history of computing. After nearly 40 years of internet traffic flowing to end users and their devices, the total amount of traffic reached the massive, never before seen figure known as a Zettabyte.

Just how big is a Zettabyte? It is the equivalent of one billion Terabytes. That is a number that is very hard to comprehend for most of us. Data Economy puts it in perspective by noting that if each Terabyte represented a kilometer a Zettabyte would equal 24,953 trips around the Earth or 9 trips to Mars and back. Now, that is some powerful growth.

Demand for bandwidth and storage has changed as our collective use of the internet has changed, and it sure is startling to realise how much that utility has changed in such a short amount of time. There are two major factors resulting in this growth. On the one hand, there is a steady growth in the number of global internet users. On the other, there is also tremendous growth in the amount of data our activities create.

With the number of global internet users rising steadily and the sheer amount of data rising even faster, it’s not hard to see the Zettabyte becoming just another norm when it comes to traffic measurement and data storage. So, how long until the next Zettabyte? Time will tell. Learn how Digital Realty's Connected Campus can help your company thrive in the Zettabyte era.